Oil-well packer.



P. H. MACK.

OIL WELL PACKER. VAPPLIGATION FILED MAR. 7, 1914.

Patented $9131.22, 1914.

the abutment on which the UNiTEn sfrarns PATENT OFFICE..

PATRICK H. LIACK, OF BRADFORD, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 OIL WELL SUPPLY COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION 0F PENNSYLVANIA.

OIL-WELL- PACKER.

` Patented Sept. 22, 1914.

Application filed March 7, i914. Serial No. 823,175.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be itknown that I, PATRICK H. Mack, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Bradford, in the county of McKean and State of Pennsylvania, Ihave invented certain new. and useful Improvements in'Oil- Vlfell Packers; and l do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it' appertains to make and use the same.

v My invention relates to that class of `devices commonly termed oilV well packers used in connection with the casing and tubing of Artesian Vwells for shutting olf water from the lower levels of the well.

The invention in the present instanceis directed. more particularly to that class of packers whiclris to be applied on the tubing of deep wells adjacent to the oil bear ing sand as in thefcase of oil wellsrfand while generally applicable to all' deep wells4 which require packingr is more especially applicable to gas wells or flowing wells.

The object I haveuin Viewv is the provision of a well packer which can be initially applied to the tubing low down, preferably a short distance above the bottom of the well, orat. any desired point inthe well, and one which in case` of spelling or crumbling of thewalls ofthe well, 'will guard tubing. .against buckling or fracture and will be automatically re-applied` or reset by the dropping of the tubing, and which also can, after its irst application, be lprogressively raised and reapplied at any point where the walls of the well will permit.

- As now generally constructed' all available well packers embody in combination a packer body,a compressible and expansible packing ofannular shape., an annular abutment, .upon which the: packing rests, means for transferring the Weight of the tubing to the annular packing, and means for supporting from the Walls ofthe well annular packing rests or is seated. y f

The means for supporting the abutment from or anchoring it'to-.the walls of the well may be broadly detined as of two kinds, first, such as can be manipulated to set and release the abutment without pulling the devices or cause them-to engage effectively the walls of the well.

With lthe first named means'there is no provision to arrest, retard or cushion the drop of the tubing in case of failure of the .anchorto hold by reason of crumbling'of the well walls, as frequently happens, and the unrestrained drop of the string of tubing, which maybe thirty-five hundred feet in length and weight seven tons, more or less, frequently-results in buckling or frac-. turing the tubing, with loss of time and labor lif not loss of the .well For this reason "it isgeneral-ly deemed preferable to employ as ajpacking for tubing .indeep wells the last namedfmeaus for actuating the anchor which supports the abutment,

tom of thewell is required to set the anchor or render it operativa: and in whichthereis no material drool-nf. the vtubing in case the walls of the wellspall or crumble, and this, construction is preferred notwithstanding that in case the: anchor fails through spalllingl or crumbling of the walls of the Well,v .there is no wayf-of again applying the paoking without A.pulling the string of tubing and; increasing or diminishing the length of thati` lportion of th'e tubing which extends from' below the packer to the bottom of the well,

and, fui-ther, that there is no means of. readily determining how much tubing must?.

beadded of removed to bring the anchoring means into vposition where the walls of the well will hold.

" To effect the purposes of my invention l, combine with the body of the packer the. usual or any approved .annularA compres-- sible' and expansible packing member,A an

abutment therefor, means for anchoring the abutment .on the walls of" the well, said means adapted to be operated at will while the packer is suspended in the well, and a 'tubular extension member suspended from and adapted to telescope with the body of .the packer and factuate the anchor, whereby when the anchor is accidentally released by .reason vof vthe crumbling of the walls 'of the namely, one inwhichwcontact with the botj-f.

esl

50 Surrounding Athe well, or otherwise, the descent of the tubing is retarded, arrested andcushioned-and the packingl is vrautoInatic'ally,f reapplied A,withf 1 outinjury to the tubing or packer, and a. 5 wall packer involving such a comb' ation-r of coacting ture of my invention.

There are other, minor, featuresv of invention involving particular combinations as well as particular, .features of elemental construction, all asV will"hereinafter more fully appear.

In the drawings chosen for the pnrposeof A illustrating my invention the: scope whereof is pointed out in the claims, Figure l is a view in elevation, parts broken'iout, of a well packer embodyingfmy invention. ig. 2 is a longitudinal 'central section' of the well packer shown in Fig. l, showing-the relation'of the coacting parts to eachother and tothe walls of the'fwell before-'the pac'ker is set or applied to the walls l'ofi the well. Fig. 3 is a sectionalview similar to Fig. 2 showing the relations of the coacting parts 'after the packer-*has .been set 'orfa'pv plied to the walls of the well. Fig; L eisan enlarged detail sectional view showing theA manner'of controlling the anchoring devices when inserting the packer in the well. :'Fi'g. 5is a transverse sectional view of the packer taken in the plane of the line 5-5, Fig. 1,A andFig. 6 is a transverse-sectionalview of the packer taken inl the plane f 4 the 'line 6916,Fig: l. y V f'lv Likef's'yinbols refer to like', parts wherever they occur. y

y. v:Iwill now proceed' to describe my invention more fully so that others skilled in the art "to which it appertains'may apply the fInthe drawings; lfindicates a reducing coupling which forms the upper end of' the packer proper, said Acoupling threaded 'in- Vternally as atl*L for the-reception of the lower end of'a string of tubing a with whichl the packer is to be used. This couplingfl" is also internally threaded as at l" for' the reception'jpffthe upper' end 'of' the packer bodya". 4

l packerfbody `2 and in l"Contact with the coupling'll' i'sa hollow cyl-f inder or annulus of compressible and expansible material 3, preferablyv of rubber, and directly below the `same' and in contact .55 therewith is an annular abutmenti on which the' packing -3 rests; This annular abut ment '4 is preferably in the form 'of the frus'- tuin of'a hollow cone so as to Iobtainfav cross section of wedge form Ytor coactl withthe'l nieansbyvwhich the abutment 4 is'anchored" Lto the side walls of the well-' ''llheabutment 4 and the packing j3 are mofvabl'ev on the body v'2 of the packer, but

the' abutment liis preventedfrom slipping downiblthe' bodyiofftlie ipac'ker by 4'a slight l v l h a `collar forming a shoulder 2F?,Y and abgve' elements embodies the" mainfeal u A v 'thebody member 2 by neas' of 'which 'an `frictionally engage the walls' 'and-'ffixedly ,for this purpose other-f and further"semisl .elliptic springs connected to lca`ge {7 :whichdo not bear' on the slips -Sgimay .bef lused iflrequired or' desired. I i

j "Intermediate-of slip .cage7 and rin'g'grmb.l v'pling-' is fa' coiled springlOf one end of. .which is seatedon t the movable-coupling ring 5, the 'oppositeiend exerting-an upward .pressure on the cage -7.

- lthe coupling 1,1, whereby there 'may be susudow'n'onbody 2 of the; packer to the posi-,

shoulder v2 so that the contact of the an` n al1 packing 3 is always maintained., with coupling 1 and with abutment, 4:1 f

`On the lower end of body 2 of the packer thefsaine is a couplingjifiigf'lmovlljb extension sleeve 6 is telescopingly connected with the lower endof the body member 2 ofthe packer. O n the body member 2; of the packer, immediately below the abtl ment 4, is the means whereby the abutment 4.- is anchored at -will on the side wall of .the well. Inthe present instance this is shown as a-sleeve or ca e 7 movable longitudinally on thefbo'dy memlber 2 of the packerrto ether withl slips 8 movably connectedwitw-the cage by means of the slip reins 8, thel'slip's" 8 eing held-normally out of. engagementf with the -wall's'iof the. well by. meansef 85 springs 9, one e'nd of each-"spring" being rigidlyl connected to the cage 7 afs at 7?" 'and the 'other en'd 'of said spring'bearing on one' fof the.slipsfabove its movable connection-11 withthe cage. Aside from their function ofholding'the slips. 8. normally out of con? ta'ct with th'ewalls of the well, these s prings,'

lwhich are' preferably semi ellipt`ic in form,

have another-important function, 'i'1iz.f,ftoVE 95 support the l anchor mechanism, that Gis-'2te say` lth'efcage 7 and slips 8,-ewhen: the fbody'f I memberI 2 'oflthe packery is free tomove iii-fL dependentlyof the yanchor mechanism, "andi 6 indicates ani extension member telescopi;

richly Wheeled- 'wifhg ulebody member 2 'of 110.,

the-packer by Vmeans'of the loose zring cou'- pling 5,"and said extension-6. is y internally" `threaded at itslowerend-*jor "reception 'ofIv ipended from the body part'2 yof the packer? 115 :such an fadditional'length'of tubing a as, lwill, taken'f'in connection with .extensionm'emberu6, reach nearly to the4 bottom ofv the well when the packer has been lowered'- in the well to" the "lowest position it is 'to occupyl initially. y Before introducing ther ackefr intol the 'w'ellt and to facilitate the' owering thereof fi-itlief-well, lthe'anchor, that is to say,the cage 7 and slips 8, should be drawn or forced ,125

tiofn' indicated in'Figsv. "1 and 2 of thedraw- Qing,v and* this lwill compress andV energize coiled-'spring 10|.whosef' reaction, if not pre- .veiitefh Willi lift `thelslipsi-"S into operative 139 down in their lower position, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, the tubinga with the packer attached is lowered into the well until opposite the point where the packer is to be applied. Usually this will be near the bottom of the well, in which case the `lowering of the packing may be continued until the lower end of extension member a touches the bottom of the well, after which the tubing will be lifted until the lower end of the extension a is the requireddistance above the bottom of the well and the extension a hangs suspended from body portion 2 of the packer.

The packer being thus brought to the des ired` point in the -well where it is to be applied,'the anchor mechanism will be held temporarily at such point by the frictional engagement of springs 9 with the walls of the well. A weight is now dropped 'into tubing a and in its descent it will fracture the disk 12 and release cage 7 whereupon the reaction of coiled spring 10 will force.

the cage 7 up andbring the slips 8- into operative engagement with abutment 4 and with the walls of the well. The weight of the tubing being permitted to rest on the annularv packing 3, which in turn rests. on

' abutment d, will force the abutment down back of slips 8 and securely anchor the abut-` ment on the walls of the well, and will also compress the annular packing 8 expanding it laterally, effectively closing the spacer between the tubing and the walls of the well, thus shutting oli' all water, gas or iiuid.

It is to be noted that when thus initially placed in the well, the position of the packer is such that the extension a is suspended from the body portion 2 of the packer, and the lower end of tubing a" is somewhat above the bottom of the well. If now the anchor mechanism (cage 7, slips 8) fails to hold by reason of the spalling or crumbling of the walls of the well, or from any other cause, a short drop of the .tubing brings the lower end of suspended extension a in contact-with the bottom of the well, whereupon the telescoping of body member 2 of the packer into sleeve extension 6 will cause the compression of coiled spring 10, thus retarding and cushioning the descent of the tubing, and as soon as thegcoil of the spring is closed the descent of cage 7 and slips 8 will be arrested and the continued downward movement of body member 2 will force the abutment l back of slips 8 and automatically resetthe packer. The cushioning of. thetubing ain its descent and the automatic and immediate resetting of the packer will .eiiectually guard the tubing against buckling or fracture.

Ifnowitisdesired to raise the packer and reset it, without pulling the tubing, the tub- ,ing is rst raised suiciently to withdraw the abutment 4 from back of the slips 8 whereupon the I reaction of semi-elliptic springs 9 will tend to force the slips 8 inward toward body member 2 of the packer and out of engagement with the walls of the well, and" at the. same time the resistance to the upward movement of the cage 7 caused by the frictional engagement of the semielliptic springs 9 with the walls of the well will'tend to keep the coiled spring in. compression, so that when the annular packing has been raised the desired distance in the Welland the movement of the' tubing a and body `member 2 is reversed the expansion of coiled spring coacting with the semi-elliptic springs'9'will hold the cage 7 and slips 8 fixed in their new position in the well until the descent of the tubing a and body member 2 rof the packer again forces the abutment 4 back of slips 8 and anchors the packer rmly in its new position, whereupon the annular packing 3 becomes compressed and expanded laterally and the well is effectively' packedat the point selected above the point where the well walls have theretofore crumbled and released the packing.

It will be noted that the walls of the well can thus be tested .progressively upward from the point of crumbling and the packer reset wherever the walls are found to beA iorlnal o r of a characterto support the packer. v

Having thus described my invention,

vwhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: A

1. In a well packer, the combination of a body member, an extension member suspended from and telescopingly connected with the body member, an annular packing, an annular abutment for the packing, anchor devices i'or supporting the abutment from the walls of a well, and a spring interposed between the anchor devices and the telescoping extension member.

`2. Ina well packer,

the combination of a body member, an extension member suspended from and telescopingly connected with the body member, an annular packing, anannular abutment for the packing, anchor'devices for supportingthe abutment from the walls of a well, semi-elliptic springs connected with the anchor devices for frictionally engaging the walls of a well, anda said spring interposed between the telescoping extension -member and the packing.

"In testimony whereof I affix my signature,

in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.-

. PATRICK H. MACK. Witnesses W. E.'BURDICK, Y FINETTA E. MCFADDEN.

and a coiled spring on the'body'member, 1@ I 

